Collage of book covers from blind and low-vision authors reading list

Recognize Braille Literacy Month This January

Braille Literacy Month is observed every January. To recognize this month, AWP has compiled a brief history of braille, as well as online resources for learning more about the braille system, articles from The Writer’s Chronicle discussing blindness and disabilities more broadly, and related events from past AWP conferences.

Be sure to check out our Bookshop.org list of books by blind and low-vision authors.

 

History

Braille Literacy Month is held in January to honor the birthday of Louis Braille, who was born on January 4, 1809. He created the braille system as a way for visually impaired individuals to read, write, and perform math and science. Braille is not a language, but rather a tactile alphabetic system that can be integrated into almost any language. The invention is relatively modern, first being adapted and developed during the 1800s. Raised-point writing existed as a precursor to braille, but it was cumbersome to use. At just fifteen, Louis Braille took Charles Barbier’s written code (invented to allow people to read military messages without light) and created what we now know as the braille system.

The building block of each braille letter is composed of two parallel rows of three vertical dots. Sixty-four combinations can be made from these six dots, including letters, numbers, punctuation marks, and even whole words. Braille can be written in two versions, contracted and uncontracted. Most braille students learn uncontracted braille before contracted braille, which is written in shorthand or abbreviated terms.

 

Online Resources

The following websites share more information about braille, braille literacy advocacy, and how to support blind and visually impaired writers:

  • Paths to Literacy has a thorough blog post and resource guide on how students with disabilities can write.
  • Learn about tools for handwriting and printing for blind or visually impaired students and writers on Paths to Literacy.
  • The American Foundation for the Blind has a book club where blind and low-vision authors share their stories. This page has the option to listen to a recording of the conversation or to use a transcript.

 

From The Writer’s Chronicle

Mirrors and Reflections: A Conversation with Poets from the Propel Disability Series by Stephen Kuusisto with Lisa M. Dougherty, Ona Gritz, Anne Kaier, Daniel Simpson, and Nathan Spoon, April 2025

Close Escapes: Or, This Is the Time for Poetry by Stephen Kuusisto, April 2025

The Big Conversation: Writing (and Publishing) Disability by Jessie Male, Keah Brown, M. Leona Godin, and Sonya Huber, December 2024

The Lyric Mode: Crip Time & Its Metaphors by Emily Rose Cole, April 2020

 

Rewatch AWP Events

#AWP21 Disability’s Influence on Literature: Realism As A Craft Concept, Sponsored by AWP

#AWP20 My Heart Is Not Blind: On Blindness and Perception, Sponsored by Trinity University